2006-09-28 23:26:34 · 14 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Hell is man made. The words in the bible that has been translated to hell means grave or tomb. Bad translations and mans imagination (and need to scare people) created hell.
2006-09-28 23:44:43 · answer #1 · answered by *duh* 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Errrr...that would be the early Christians. I spoke to a leading scholar of Judaic scripture about ten years ago as part of the research for a radio feature on the history of the Devil, and she told me that in the Hebrew tradition, there's no such thing as "Hell" per se - the worst there is is "separation from God". When Christianity was relatively new and struggling between gaining new converts and dying out altogether, they had a crisis of confidence...
If the man they said was the son of God was actually the son of God, then...erm...not to put too fine a point on it, how come he ended up getting nailed to a tree in the final chapter?
Easy - there was a force of Uber-Evil at work in the world, and it had conspired with human beings, particularly Judas, to undo the work of the Lord.
Only trouble was that in the Judaic tradition, Lucifer was the prime candidate, but he was NEVER that powerful - he was basically head of the "quality control" department, tempting humans to see if it could be done, on behalf of His Nibs Upstairs.
The early Christians also needed to establish the superiority of their religion over pagan faiths in nature gods like Pan (the half-man half-beast, with horns and hooves, who represented lust among other things.)
Bingo!
Lucifer was given the equivalent of a mega-makeover, painted as this beast-like creature so he could be identified with a pagan god and made "evil", and given a whole big significance, and, for the first real time, a realm of his own, a place to take the souls of non-believers and sinners, and torture them for the rest of time.
They gave him Hell, and for the next two thousand years, he's been trying to give it back to them. Or at least, they think he has... :oD
2006-09-29 08:04:19 · answer #2 · answered by mdfalco71 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Hell would have had to have always been there for it to be there when the devil was sent there. Meaning humanity has always had an evil side to it, it wasn't till the Christains found it that it could be "there". It would seem then, that God created hell (if he made everything then he must have), and if that is so then we were always meant to be evil, even if we didn't know what we were doing.
2006-09-29 06:31:15 · answer #3 · answered by J23 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The popular idea of hell as a specific "place" of torment originated as a Hellenic concept, and was reinforced by medieval artists based on the colorful descriptions of the last events in the eschatological books of the bible (Daniel, Revelations)
Despite that popular conception, however, it is important to understand that it has no actual place in Christian theology. As a prior answer noted, "You make your own hell."
The Catholic church's catechism says:
'Following the example of Christ, the Church warns the faithful of the "sad and lamentable reality of eternal death" (GCD 69), also called "hell." Hell's principal punishment consists of eternal separation from God in whom alone man can have the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs.'
The Hebrew word that often gets translated as "Hell" in older English translations is 'sheol.' This word does not refer to the Hellenic conception of a literal inferno under the ground. 'Sheol' is better translated as 'the pit' or 'the grave', which makes sense in light of the way the catechism describes 'eternal death' above.
2006-09-29 07:02:43 · answer #4 · answered by evolver 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Bible never mentions a creation of hell. Why would God give Satan an entire kingdom to himself? The Bible clearly states that Satan and his demons came to earth, it never talks about Satan going to a firey hell or owning his own torture place of hell. That would be pretty much putting his enemy and slanderer in charge of his own punishments. I don't believe in hell as some fiery pit, but I do believe it is the common grave of mankind. I will put some Bible verses here after school to show I didn't just make all this up.
2006-09-29 06:32:30 · answer #5 · answered by Aloofly Goofy 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
O.K. well hell was made for the devil.....by God.
It was never made for humans to go there................but
if people reject God, then they end up in hell.....as God won't have people who do not love JESUS in heaven.....
Hell was made for the devil...and one third of the angels, the devil took out of heaven....when he left.The devil is the maker
of sin, and it all started with him....he just thought he could be a god himself.....pride set in and thats it really....hope this of some help to you, and it was a great question.....
2006-09-29 06:31:42 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
The religions that teach that there is a hell teach that God created Hell.
2006-09-29 06:29:26 · answer #7 · answered by Blue Devil 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You yourself make hell.That's all.World before, was a beautiful place without any pollution, peace was all around.But as time passed and things became advanced world started to turn into hell.Hatred, greed, lust increased.Everyone ran after riches as everyone wants to suppress others and lead luxurious life.So now you can see this world is a model of hell.It will surely turn into hell after sometime.But we can try to not to let it happen.
2006-09-29 06:38:40 · answer #8 · answered by mona ~ 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
According to the Bible, God created everything. According to Christian Tradition, God created Hell for Satan and his followers. According to the Jewish Tradition, Hell is the Grave.
Take your pick which one you prefer. It seems to work for everyone else. *_*
2006-09-29 08:32:37 · answer #9 · answered by Kithy 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Hell existed first.
2006-09-29 06:33:23 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋